2025 Tycho Brahe Award

Presented to: Dr. Todd A. Ely

Citation: For seminal contributions to the advancement of autonomous space navigation technologies, including the Deep Space Atomic Clock, and one-way uplink radiometric tracking in lunar orbit

Dr. Todd A. Ely is Principal Navigation Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He has 40 years of experience in astrodynamics and space navigation, developing numerous navigation systems and architectures, including the Mars Network, the Electra radio, and the Constellation Program. In 2011, he became Principal Investigator for the DSAC Technology Demonstration Mission, which completed operations in September 2021 and demonstrated the most stable clock ever flown in space. Currently, he is Co-PI on NASA’s High Performance Atomic Clock and Co-PI on the AstroNav projects.

Dr. Ely has dedicated his career to advancing spacecraft navigation capabilities with a focus on improving: Martian and lunar orbiter and surface navigation; one-way radiometric tracking accuracy via high-stability/high-accuracy space clock; and autonomous navigation capabilities through radiometric and optical tracking data fusion. His most impactful work to date has been developing and demonstrating technologies for one-way radiometric tracking. Space missions have long relied on the Deep Space Network to track spacecraft with ground-based two-way radiometric measurements. Collecting one-way data onboard a spacecraft enables far greater autonomy. He has been instrumental in advancing two key technologies essential to realizing the potential of one-way tracking: high–stability clocks suitable for space operations and high-quality radionavigation receivers.

Dr. Ely has published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and technical reports, and has led efforts that secured more than $100M in funding for space missions and scientific and technology development programs. He actively mentors graduate students, encouraging them to contribute their talents to the future of space exploration.

Dr. Ely's contributions were recognized with the 2020 NASA Outstanding Public Leadership Medal and JPL Magellan Award. Dr. Ely earned his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University.